Dutch energy consumption fell by 10 percent last year compared to 2021, to 2731.8 petajoules. That appears from provisional figures of the Central Bureau of Statistics. In any case, this is the largest decrease since 1970, with energy consumption reaching its lowest level in more than thirty years.
The decrease is almost entirely due to the fact that significantly less natural gas was used, a result of the high gas prices. Agriculture used almost a third less natural gas, relatively the largest decrease of all sectors. Homes burned 22 percent less gas than in 2021.
At the end of 2022, the gas price was back to the level it was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. CBS researcher Cor Pierik cannot say whether that also means that energy consumption will bounce back this year. “The decline is partly permanent, partly temporary.”
Pierik: “A structurally lower gas consumption is, for example, due to better insulated houses or companies that use other energy sources. But as soon as gas prices fall again, some companies will also increase their production again.” For example, a fertilizer factory in Sluiskil in Zeeland was shut down for a while last year because gas was too expensive.
The amount of renewable energy used increased by 10 percent to 376 petajoules, about 14 percent of the total. That percentage differs slightly from the 15 percent previously reported by Statistics Netherlands, because energy consumption was calculated differently at the time.
Read also Statistics Netherlands: share of renewable energy in total energy consumption is increasing slightly